Last week, the Department of Communications (DOC) issued two tenders closely linked with the country's overall migration to digital terrestrial TV (DTTV), giving industry just over a week to reply.
Published on 17 March, the first tender is for the development of DTTV functionality and an interoperability requirement document, also known as a D-Book, and the second is to develop a set-top box manufacturing strategy for the country.
The closing date for both tenders is Friday, 28 March.
Cut-off dates
Both tenders have aggressive deadlines for the country to meet the DTTV switch-on of 1 November. President Thabo Mbeki said in his state of the nation address that 50% of the population would be covered by DTTV at that date. The switch-off date for the old analogue system is 1 November 2011.
The DOC describes the D-Book as an overarching technical reference manual, adopted to guide industry on how the component systems and sub-systems, comprising an end-to-end digital TV service, should be specified, implemented, and in some cases, tested.
The set-top box (STB) manufacturing strategy is to plan how the country will manufacture the boxes that will convert digital signals for analogue TV sets. The idea is to have the STBs manufactured in the country and so revitalise the local electronics industry. The DOC has begun work with the Department of Trade and Industry and the sector with planning in this regard.
Deadlines for the STB strategy are for the appointment of a service provider by April, ongoing stakeholder consultations and interviews, submission of the first draft strategy by 30 May and submission of the final draft strategy by 13 June.
Considerable consequences
Several industry sources say they are "puzzled" by the short deadlines, as well as why the DOC believes it is necessary for it to become so involved in the technical workings of DTTV, when its role is to set policy.
"There are few, if any, people in SA who have experience in DTTV migration," one industry source says. "So it will be interesting to see who gets the tenders and how quickly they are able to develop those strategies. The whole migration issue has severe implications for the country on a national, technical and financial basis."
Another source, who works in the regulatory affairs department of a broadcaster, says the D-Book is the "nitty-gritty" of DTTV and has little to do with policy as it applies to the commercial plans for broadcasters.
"Documents of that kind should be done by industry and not by government. The D-Book contains such information as how the electronic programming guide will display information and how the service information will be embedded in the data stream," he says.
The source also says the broadcasters have to make commercial decisions on how many channels they want, as this will affect the quality of the broadcasts. He believes the STB manufacturing strategy is an attempt to bypass the normal SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) method of developing a standard.
Linden Petzer, chairman of the SABS digital working group, says he is surprised by the extremely tight deadlines set by the DOC. He is still trying to get more information on the tenders.
The SABS is the national custodian of standards and Petzer says there is a set format on how the body goes about developing and adopting a standard.
Gathering speed
DOC spokesman Albi Modise says government has announced plans to accelerate the building of the local set-top manufacturing industry, a move that will drive SA's digital migration process forward and add up to R4 billion to the local economy.
The initiative will also set the platform for South African manufacturers to export set-top boxes to other African countries to facilitate their digital migration process, he says.
Modise would not provide details as to incentives government will provide to encourage current set-top box manufacturers to grow their business, and for new players to enter the market.
Related story:
DOC receives rocket over Sentech funding
Share